EU opens up to US clearing houses in blow to City of London January 27, 2021 Brussels will allow US clearing houses operate throughout the EU in what could be a blow to the City of London’s largest clearing agencies. The European Commission announced today that it had decided that the US’ financial regulator’s rules was equivalent to the EU’s around clearing houses. This means the EU will now allow Wall [...]
UK to start talks with Switzerland on post-Brexit financial services deal January 27, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will today start formal talks with his Swiss counterpart in a bid to broker a new post-Brexit financial services agreement for the UK. The Treasury said the talks would see the two sides try to deliver “a comprehensive mutual recognition agreement that would reduce costs and barriers for UK firms accessing the Swiss [...]
Exclusive: Sadiq Khan to bang the drum for City of London at World Economic Forum January 27, 2021 Exclusive: Sadiq Khan to bang drum for EU-City deal at World Economic Forum
HSBC boss stands by bank’s support for Hong Kong’s freedom of speech crackdown January 26, 2021 HSBC’s chief executive has today stood by statements made by himself and another senior executive in support of Hong Kong’s draconian national security laws that clamp down on freedom of speech. Noel Quinn told MPs today that laws were needed to “stablise” the region last year and said there was no situation in which he [...]
Ex-EU commissioner says Brussels will not do City of London ‘any favours’ post-Brexit January 26, 2021 The UK’s former financial services commissioner to the EU has warned the City of London that Brussels is trying to overturn its status as a leading global financial centre. Lord Jonathan Hill, who also served as a minister under David Cameron, said the EU would “not do us any favours” and that it was certain [...]
Top official warns of ‘disturbing’ amount of Russian money laundering in UK January 25, 2021 One of the UK’s top officials in monitoring economic crime has today warned about the “disturbing” prevalence of Russian money laundering in London, claiming up to half of all money laundered from the country is done through the UK. Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Economic Crime Centre, told MPs today that it was [...]
PM’s plan to ‘level up’ UK made four-times harder by Covid, says think tank January 25, 2021 Boris Johnson’s plan to “level up” economically deprived areas of the country has been made four-times harder thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new think tank report. The Centre for Cities’ annual report also found the pandemic will have negative long-term economic effects for London and the South East, with a stark increase [...]
UK set to wrap up New Zealand trade deal before Easter January 25, 2021 The UK is reportedly just weeks away from closing a free trade deal with New Zealand that will see tariffs slashed on wine, gin and cars. The third formal round of trade talks begin today, with UK negotiators confident the terms of the deal can be agreed before Easter. The Sun reports the deal will [...]
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer self-isolating for the third time January 25, 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is self-isolating for the third time, after today announcing he had come into contact with someone who has Covid-19. Starmer tweeted this morning that he had “no symptoms and will be working from home until next Monday”. The Labour leader previously had to self-isolate in December when a member of [...]
Rishi Sunak’s £2bn Kickstart programme creates 120,000 jobs January 25, 2021 The Treasury’s £2bn Kickstart scheme has so far created 120,000 jobs for young people since being launched last September. Kickstart, which is open for 16 to 24-year-olds, has also been modified to remove the previous threshold that forced companies to create at least 30 openings to be involved in the scheme. The programme sees UK [...]